The combination of electron and immunofluorescence with light microscopy evaluation of kidney biopsies has added much to knowledge about pathogenesis prognosis, and therapy of renal diseases. The imminent clinical use of immunoelectron microscopy, histochemical analysis, and in vitro culture of renal biopsies promises to add yet additional potential to the ability to better understood and treat renal diseases. However, the increased sophistication provided by these techniques also requires additional tissues. Furthermore, the inherent fragility of present immunofluoresent methods of tissue preservation requires improved methodology.
Many methods have been attempted to allow tissue preparation compatible for a variety of different histologic procedures, especially for light and immunofluorescent studies. Most of the prior methods have suffered from excessive laborious preparation, loss of tissue detail, loss of tissue antigens, or other problems. Conventional tissue preparation techniques are disclosed, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 2,393,580 to E.C. Weiskopf.